December 25th, 2012, I remember it like yesterday. It was a beautiful Christmas morning, I couldn’t sleep all night; the anticipation of waking up to all those presents sitting below my tree was killing me. As I rolled out of bed that morning, I slowly walked over to put on my pink slippers. I can’t handle the cold, and it is a must that I always wear my slippers. I then ran over to my sister’s room across the hall and barged right in. “Wake up!” I yelled at her as I was jumping all over her bed, “It’s Christmas Sarah, get up!” Her level of excitement was not the same as mine. Christmas was one of my favorite times of the year. It makes me happy and brings me joy that I get to celebrate such a special day with my family. Aside from all the drama that was occurring with my parents the past year from the divorce, things had finally started to settle down.Divorce is a murderer and unfortunately my family was one of its victims. From seventh grade and on, there has been two beds, in two rooms, in two homes. It is hard not being with both parents on christmas, but it teaches me to appreciate the time I spend with each parent separately. it just seemed like everything was alright on that day. This was the third year that it was just my mom, my sister, and I. We forgot about everything that had happened and just enjoyed the time we spent together.

After I stopped jumping all over her bed, Sarah had finally gotten up. We then sprinted down the stairs, creating a noise so loud, that sounded like a stampede of elephants. Shouting across the house, “Mom get in here now! Its present opening time!” Tradition is we always open presents one at a time from youngest to oldest. My whole life has been off tradition when it comes to family and that is the way I like it. It’s what I’m most comfortable with and what I plan on keeping. Organizing the presents, I give Sarah her first one to open; I noticed that Sarah had more presents than I did. My mood had shifted instantly. This was not okay with me for some odd reason. Selfishness is a bad quality, a quality I wish I didn’t have. Being so much like my dad, and growing up in a selfish environment, that trait had followed me throughout my childhood. It was hard to shake my anger. Eventually I let it go when I started opening my own presents, excited to figure out finally what has been sitting underneath this tall, fake Christmas tree so for long. After all the presents were opened and everyone was done, I realized I got only two things I asked for, I went silent. Unhappy and disappointed, I didn’t realize that my mom hard tried so hard to please me. That past year was hard on my mom, with the divorce and everything she still always put my sister and I first. But for some reason that wasn’t enough for me. Pleasing me is a challenge because I am never fully satisfied. But why though? Christmas is not about how many presents you get or how expensive they are. Family and celebrating that special day with them should be the most important. I lacked maturity, and I look back on myself and I’m disappointed. “Do you like your presents girls?” my mom had asked when she already knew the answer to that.

“Yeah they are great!” said my sister excitedly.
“I mean it’s not really what I wanted” about to burst out into tears because I let this affect me that much.
“Well Rachel I tried and I am sorry for not getting exactly what you wanted, you can always return them!”

“That’s not good enough mom, I wanted them now” Balling my eyes out, I walked up stairs and didn’t say a word.

We were already done opening presents by 9:30 and I had a lot of spare time to get ready for our annual Christmas day party at my grandpas. After I got out of the shower, I planned on straightening my hair, which says a lot because I don’t ever straighten my hair. I went to go get my straightener, but it was not in the last draw, on the right, in my dresser. I had already known that Sarah had it. She had always taken my clothes and such out of my room without asking me before. We always had a big problem because she would sneak into my room and take my clothes without asking me. That bothered me to no end, that is my stuff and you have to ask to use it, period. Still frustrated with myself from earlier that morning, I barged into her room to find her sitting in front of her mirror, doing her hair, with my straightener. That was it, I exploded. People always say its better to let stuff out then in, well that is not my philosophy. I hold stuff in until my breaking point and then it all comes out at once, which results in my being even more upset. Even though Sarah had just gotten a brand new straightener for Christmas, she still for some reason thought it was okay to use mine. “Sarah you didn’t ask me to use this now give it back!”
“So? It was already in my room so I just used it.”

“Go get the one you got! This is mine and I need it now.”
“I don’t feel like going and opening it.” At this point I was done, I started screaming at her to give it back to me. Which resulted with my saying things I didn’t mean and making the situation worse. I never liked it when my sister and I fought, and I do not see how we fought over something so dumb, it was just a straightener. She is the only sister I got and I didn’t want to spend my time fighting with her over dumb stuff.When a fight breaks out between us it is never something serious, just screaming and a few hits thrown in there. Even though we both know it’s over dumb stuff, we always let our anger get ahold of us sometimes, especially me. Family is not supposed to fight over such a dumb thing, like a straightener. I want to have the best relationship with my sister throughout our lives. I should’ve handled that whole situation different. I still regret this fight. In the end, she ended up giving it back to me, only because I forced her too.

As I was exiting her room, with my straightener, Mid-closing of the door, with my fingers still there, she kicked the door. Unaware my fingers were still there. Immediately I feel to the floor with this sharp shooting pain. This wasn’t like me to fall down, crying and screaming, but this was a pain that I have never felt before. Tears were rushing down as I was screaming for help from Sarah. My sister had then opened the door and just sat there. She and that ah-ha look on her face. Still there was no movement from her. Through my gloomy/teary eyes, I forced myself to look down at my hand and see the damage. I was trying to make out what was wrong with my fingers. All I saw was red, the bold color of my blood, was all over and my pointer finger was just hanging on by a thread. “SARAH CALL MOM” screaming to her. Unfortunately, my mom had left to go the store to pick up some last minute food before we went over to my grandpas. I just wanted my dad and mom, which was odd for me because I have never wanted both my parents there together before more than I did at that moment. Even though I had Sarah, she had went into shock and was crying as well. I just wanted everything to be okay, and I just wanted my finger to be back on, I just wanted my mom and dad there with me.

After, my mom had rushed back home, she called my dad to tell him what had happened so he could meet us up at the hospital. My dad had arrived shortly after us. It felt like an eternity sitting in that waiting room, but I was satisfied that I had everyone there with me. Although my mom was still upset with me from the way I had acted earlier that morning, and the fact that my sister was crying more than I was didn’t see to help that much. But at that moment I forget everything, I had forgotten that my mom and dad weren’t together, I had forgotten about the fight that caused all of this. But what I didn’t forget was that my family was with me the whole time. Although divorce had murdered my family, everything seemed better now. Four hours later and we had finally gotten out of that scary hospital. Even though we knew that we were going to be late for the family Christmas party, I still knew in the back of my mind that my family would still be there, always.

It’s October now, and my finger had made a marvelous recovery. Things are better. My mom is happy now, my dad is happy now, I’m happy now.Things will not change if you don’t make the change, and I’ve learned that the hard way. My ,relationship with my sister is still growing everyday and that’s how I want it to be, my mom still tries everyday to make us her number one priority, and I am growing out of my bad habits to become a better person everyday. I am making the changes for myself and for who I want to be. All great things come in time, and in time I know my family will grow again. It will heal itself, just how my finger did.